Budget 2013: Cigarette prices to rise from 2014

The price of a pack of cigarettes will increase by around seven cents starting from 2014.

The hike will mean the Government encounter a possible re-election fight with cigarette manufacturers and retailers, who are still suffer because of standardized cigarettes packaging laws.

Treasurer Wayne Swan’s big-cutting Budget imposed sin tax on only on cigarettes. Previous year’s Budget showed a hike on taxes on beer and cut the amount of duty free cigarettes Australians could get home after being abroad.

The duty free cuts in 2012 were set to increase $175 million by 2015.

A packet of 25 cigarettes will be seven cents more expensive from the first half of 2014, after a modification in indexation that sees tobacco excise keep pace with salary hikes. Budget papers did not show how much this would boost.

While the Budget didn’t contain any changes to how big betting firms are taxed, the Government did promise to invest $ 5.4million over four years to set up and operate the Australian Gambling and Research Centre from July.

This will mean the creation of an independent study body within the Australian Institute of Family Studies which will examine the consequences of gambling on the community and look for successful harm reduction methods.